As for today, a group of friends and myself decided to scale Mount Lady MacDonald. I am not a complete stranger when it comes to hiking, for I have done it a couple times when I was younger (including Mount Fuji). With that in mind, I probably didn't prepare for the hike as much as I should have, simply believing that I knew what I was doing. I ended up bringing my backpack that I use to travel (good ol' trust orange MEC bag), hiking poles, a couple disposable bottles of water, shorts and extra socks (I normally hike in long sleeves and sweat pants). Material wise, I might have been prepared adequately, but in terms of my own body and mind... it was almost a repeat of Mount Fuji climb #2.
Hike started well, with a small amount of breaks. I was out of breath for a great deal on the steep inclines (perhaps more intensive cardio is required in my workout routine), but my heart rate wasn't too intense. Legs were feeling good till we reach the small, if I recall the name correctly, gazebo that overlooked the Bow Valley region (or was it the helicopter pad?). At this point, hikers have two choices: climb back down or scramble up the summit.
Mount Fuji has some minor scrambling, or what I perceive to be scrambling. There were some pathways up the holy mountain in which you had to literally get on all fours to climb. It wasn't as "slideful" in terms of loose gravel, but it can be quite grueling at times.
Mount Lady MacDonald's path to the summit... was pretty intense. It may have only been 50 minutes of scrambling for me, but it was an intense 50 minutes, I would climb two feet and slide down a feet for the entire time, despite trying to look for a stable path to the top. At the top of the false jackknife summit, we were greeted to a awe-inspiring view of Canmore and the Bow Valley region. I kept my eyes forward the entire time, since my back was exposed to a sheer drop... The true summit is accessible via a extremely narrow ridge (one side being the sheer drop while the other side has what I believe to be at least a 60 degree incline), but being tired from the scramble and not wanting to risk my neck, we decided that we were quite pleased with reaching the false summit. I doubt the view would be dramatically different from where we were, since, estimating, a 10 m higher peak wouldn't give that much more.
The descend was quite painful on my knees, despite have walking sticks, which I should note saved me many times from slipping or falling backwards. Anyways, I don't recall descending a mountain being so straining, especially on my knees. I'm quite sure that I'll recover in a couple days, but... ouch!
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